The Soldiers of Earth
by FierySable
Summary: I dunno. This is about Hilde and her reflection after the war's end. It's been a long fight and she's been thinking a lot, about life, about war, and about a certain braided baka...r&r please!!


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Disclaimer: ^_^ If it was mine, don't u think I would be rich by now?

Author's note: Yeah, another depression fic. _I_ don't think it's that depressing, but my bro said it is. Maybe I should make a series called the Musings of the Women of Gundam…

They say the war has ended. That life has returned to normal, that peace had settled across the world…I know there was cheering. I saw a woman scream, hugging her koi to her tightly as he stepped off an OZ carrier, rocking him back and forth as if she would never let him go. He held her, murmuring soft nothings to her as he wrapped his arms around her, a smile trembling in eyes that had seen and escaped death. It was beautiful… but still. But still. As the world laughed, I think I cried that day…

The sun shone with white promises as OZ and the Earth's Sphere Alliance released their soldiers, sending them all home. Confetti littered the floor as husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, children…everyone crowded from the transport shuttles to struggle into the arms of their beloved.

"Sora…" A father, decrepit and aged waved a thin hand at his daughter as she stepped from the platform, shoulders back, eyes proud. She looked vainly around, then gave a small cry as she saw the old man, her façade forgotten as she rushed into his arms.

"Ba ba [father] ley diem a? [how have you been?] …" She held him, crying into his shoulder even though she was several inches taller than him and she had to bend awkwardly over. He smiled as well, tears coursing down his papery thin cheeks, patting her back, as if she were a little girl again. Unknown, a pair of sober brown eyes watched them.

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See? Today all the soldiers come home. Soldiers to a soldier's welcome, I guess. But look at them, those people that don't have anywhere to go, no one to go home to. In some cases, no home that is left_ to go to. But that's the price of war, isn't it? The bureaucrats want power so they send people off to die. What does it matter to them? We are nothing but numbers in a file…_

"Hey, you okay?" A young man, no more than fifteen glanced up at her in a kind of daze. There was a tired mournfulness in his features as he sheltered himself behind a soldier's mask. 

"No Private Scheibecker, ma'am. I-" He glanced around at the hugging couples, the flying confetti, and quickly looked down again. "I'm just waiting around. I don't really have anywhere I need to go."

"Understood. And it's not Private Scheibecker anymore soldier. It's just Hilde." She flashed him a false smile, brushing back black locks of hair from her eyes. "We are no longer soldiers of OZ."

"Yes Pri-Hilde. Thank you."

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The war has left too many of us. Children born when the power struggle between OZ and the Alliance came into play. A lot of the soldiers are war orphans...I add myself to that category. What are we going to do now they no longer need us? Did they ever think of that? Ever think that a soldier's life is only_ in the battlefield? Only surrounded by wires and mecha? The flashes of light our comfort, the scrolling words our only order? No…no, but I shouldn't fault them. They have too much "important" work to get down to. Too many treaties, too many dealings. What should it matter of the soldier that sees nothing but the blood of fire and war? He means nothing…_

"Listen. I hear there's a Preventor force building up. You know, to protect the peace. I don't really have anything to do either…want me to take you there? I hear they need really good soldiers." Hilde grinned, watching the young man perk up considerably. 

"Preventor force? They need soldiers? Wow! Come on, let's go!" 

"Hey..hey! Wait a minute!" Hilde yelled and he turned, a confused look on his face.

"What?" She crossed her arms, glaring at him.

"You expect me to run away with some guy I barely know?"

"Oh yeah…" He smiled sheepishly, extending a hand. "I'm Derek. Nice to meet you."

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Is it right of me? Right of me to demand that this man, boy really, attempt to throw away his life away…again? He knows what war is. He knows what death is. Young as he is…he does. Actually, he's as old as I am, I realize. But I feel so much older. So much wiser than this child who stand before me…or maybe not. There is haunting pain in his eyes; he is not as young as his chronological age has left me to believe. This war has made us all old, before we've had a chance to be young…

"Thanks Hilde. I really owe you one!" Derek grinned, and on impulse, grabbed her and hugged her, hard.

"Hey, easy soldier!" Hilde laughed, vainly trying to pry herself from the over-exuberant man. "I still need some of those ribs you're crushing."

He released her instantly, tears glistening in his eyes as he stepped backwards, the heel of his worn boot touching the step that led to the new Preventor building. "I won't forget what you've done for me…I just want to…"

"Thank me? Now why would you do a stupid thing like that? You're the one that's putting his sorry neck on the line! Don't get yourself killed, hear me?" Hilde made a scatting gesture and he grinned again, snapping off a salute.

"Thanks Hilde-babe. I'll look you up the next time I'm in the neighborhood. And we'll have some party then, huh?"

"Yeah . We'll rock this town!"

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Hilde-babe? Hilde-babe…only one other person's called me that…ever. Who? He has wicked purple eyes, eyes that are like the night on the brink of dawn with gleams of yellow flecked slightly through them. His hair is always in a God-awfully long braid that hangs like a coiled whip down his back. Give it a few more years, he'll start tripping over it, it'll be so long. He wears the sign of the cross and a preacher's robe like a symbol, but he's not a man of God. He grins like an idiot, but he's not an innocent. He claims to be the Shinigami, but he saved my life…I'll never know why he saved my life. He's strange like that. His name is Duo Maxwell. Pilot of Gundam 02, Deathscythe, he calls it…her. His Gundam is always a her…

Hilde stretched, watching the stars unfold from their hiding places and she felt her lips curve lips upwards. She laughed, falling back into the crisp, green grass, the smell of wet earth overpowering the smokey dust of the city. "Yeah, Duo. I've never seen the moon quite like this on Earth. You were right you know…too bad. I'll never be able to tell you that, you braided baka. You woulda just loved to prove me wrong, wouldn't you? Idiot."

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He said he was coming back…but it's been six months. Half a year. Sometimes, I'll wonder where he is, whether he smiles, brushing his hair back in that arrogant gesture, whether he still starts pointless conversations just because he wants someone to talk to…whether he still thinks of me. But I've learned that life goes on, after all. Life goes on, even when you're wandering day to day. Am I unhappy? No. I love the freedom. Love my new house, my new life, my new car_…but a girl can wonder, can't she? I guess people like him are like a passing star, so bright but they pass through our lives so quickly…_

A star shot from the silky folds of heaven's robe a brief fire touching the atmosphere before it flickered out and she sighed in contentment, hands cradling her head as she tilted her head upwards. "Wish upon a star, huh, Duo? Hmph. Wonder if it ever works. Probably isn't a star anyway, just another part of Libra's hull coming down to Earth." She paused, considering, then shrugged. 

"Wouldn't hurt to try anyway. Here goes nothing! I wish that I knew what happened to Duo and why he hasn't come back to keep his promise." She tensed, but when nothing happened, she laughed at her own whimsy, tossing her purple beret in the air…minus the OZ emblem of course. "Well, guess not! Hope he's all right though…annoying to Heero Yuy as he is, I wouldn't be surprised if Heero decided to kill him anyway, even if Duo does claim to be his best friend."

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Some people know that I used to be friends with a Gundam pilot. They crowd around me, ask me whether I ever see him anymore, whether they can get his autograph. I always laugh. Duo? A celebrity? I know that he would get a kick out of that too. He always did have a sense of humor a mile long and just as thick. Sometimes, I think that someone stuck him in a bottle of laughing gas by mistake when he was born. But there are other times when he's so serious, when you can't get him to laugh at all. He's like that. You mention an OZ base, and he'll start cracking up, listing all the different ways he's going to blow it up. Mention God, he goes quiet, one hand coming up to finger the cross around his neck. I wonder why. He never told me. And now, he won't either…

"Hey, for your information, he _is_ my best friend." There was an offended tone in his voice as a black-clad figure dropped by her side, "I can get him to talk, can't I? And who says the Shinigami doesn't keep his promise?"

"Wha-Duo?!" Hilde jerked up in surprise, staring at the American with wide eyes.

"Did I hear someone call the Shinigami's name? I'll run and hide, but I never tell a lie," He quipped, smirking at the shock on her face. "Expecting a ghost, Hilde? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm well and alive, thank you very much."

"Duo?!"

"What, there's an echo in the place?" He was laying on the ground, hands tucked behind his head, his head tilted down to eye her from beneath unruly bangs. "Sheesh. Come _on_. You really didn't expect me to just _leave_, now did you? And uh, I would shut that mouth if I were you. Don't want the bugs or something flying in by mistake."

Hilde flushed, snapping her jaws shut. She tossed a handful of grass into his grinning face. "Baka!" He merely sputtered, brushing the silky tendrils off his face.

"What?!"

"Do you know how long it's been?! You coulda at least _called_ to tell me you were all right!"

"I was busy!" He whined, ducking as Hilde smacked him. "Hey, leave off! You haven't seen me for five minutes before you start hitting me? What ever happened to 'hi, I missed you?'"

"You are on _such_ an ego trip, aren't you?" She retorted before lying down again.

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Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe stars like him don't just disappear. When they burn, the metal disintegrates into the atmosphere, dust particles floating gently back down to Earth in a thousand tiny motes. They always return to Earth, it seems. It just draws you, touches you, with something vaguely familiar, vaguely reminiscent of arms twining around you…

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I just got back from space. Had to do something with Deathscythe, you know. I can't just let her lie around where any idiot could find her."

"Well _you_ know where she is…"

"Hey! If you're teasing, that's bad. But if you're being sarcastic, that's even worse."

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I guess Earth is just that way. Before the colonies were formed, people were born here. They grew up here, fell in love here, and eventually, their body returned back to the Earth. Is that the way it's supposed to be? Maybe colonists just don't understand what living here is like anymore. They're surrounded by their psuedo-nature, carefully tended and nurtured. Maybe they don't know how it feels like just to lay on the grass and stare at the moon anymore…

"So I was right, wasn't I?"

"About what?"

"Duh…The moon. It's never like this on the colonies. It seems too large there, like it's gonna fall on you."

"Yeah…"

"So, was I right?"

"Shut up, Duo. Rubbing it in isn't allowed."

There was a pause. "Yeah…I'm glad to see you again, Hilde-babe."

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It's weird how these things happen. _I haven't seen him for half a year and I still feel like I know him so well…_

"I missed you too, Duo."

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Maybe I'll eventually return to the colonies. After all, they hold a part of me too. But for now, I think I'll stay here, in the grass, beneath the moon, just staring at the skies…

~Hilde Schleibecker

January 8, in the year of colony 195

Author's note: So…what do u think? I made it a happy ending! I made it a happy ending!! No killing allowed!!! J Not that I have anyone in mind, mind you…r&r please!


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